


Oxford 99

by SilverInk



Category: Endeavour (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV) Fusion, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crossword Puzzles, George is basically Jake & Morse is Amy, M/M, Out of Character, Some Fluff, based on B99 episode 5x15 The Puzzle Master, probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 09:30:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14615325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverInk/pseuds/SilverInk
Summary: George got a call about a new case that seemed exactly the kind of case Morse was interested in. It was a string of two arsons with a copy of the Saturday crossword puzzle left at each scene, and a threatening letter had even been sent to the author of the Saturday puzzle, Melvin Stermley, who George knew was basically Morse’s hero. It was their perfect last case together as Detective Constables.Another ridiculously self-indulgent AU that I couldn't get out of my head!





	Oxford 99

**Author's Note:**

> Lol hope you guys enjoy!!
> 
> Thank you to my friends on Tumblr for supporting me & helping fuel my inspiration for this XD

It had been almost a month since Morse had taken his sergeants exam, and George knew he’d been waiting very eagerly for his results. He talked to George about it every night, worried that he might not make it, even though George didn’t think it was possible that he could take it and not succeed.

“Look, Dev, babe, of course you’re gonna make it,” George told him when they were in bed together one night, George watching the TV and Morse more focused on a crossword. “You did great on that test, I’m sure. I bet you aced it.”

“I hope you’re right, George,” Morse sighed, leaning into George’s shoulder. “I’ve just been waiting for this promotion for so long. They can’t reject me now, after all those cases I’ve solved, can they?!”

“Honey, it’s alright,” George reassured him, squeezing his arm. “I bet you kicked that test’s ass, and if you didn’t, you can just keep taking it, and taking it, until you do.”

“Oh, George!” Morse leaned in to kiss him. “I’m so glad we’re getting married,” he added after a moment, grinning. “I can’t wait to be your husband.”

 _Husbands._ George still couldn’t believe it himself, even though he’d been the one to propose… He mostly just couldn’t believe Morse had said ‘yes.’

The very next morning, Bright walked into the station and announced that he had Morse’s results.

“It’s happening!” George announced, and Morse threw him a mock irritated look. George knew he secretly loved how proud and excited George was for him, though, and soon Strange, Jakes, and Trewlove came over to see the letter. Morse was too scared to open it, but Trewlove read it for him, and announced that _he’d passed._

“I’m going to be a sergeant…”

“You’re gonna be a sergeant!” George was so proud of his fiancé. “That’s my future husband!”

Later on in the day, George got a call about a new case that seemed exactly the kind of case Morse was interested in. It was a string of two arsons with a copy of the Saturday crossword puzzle left at each scene, and a threatening letter had even been sent to the author of the Saturday puzzle, Melvin Stermley, who George knew was basically Morse’s hero. It was their perfect last case together as Detective Constables.

As expected, Morse was thrilled and intrigued, especially when George mentioned that Melvin would be coming to work with them on the case.

“Melvin Stermley?! He’s the best of the best!” Morse gushed, and George had never been prouder of himself. This case was going to be perfect.

“What do you think you’re doing, matey?” Strange demanded later on, when George was back at his own desk. “The man’s basically Morse’s celebrity crush, what are you doing bringing him into a case?!”

“What? He’s not a celebrity crush, he’s Morse’s crossword puzzling hero. He admires him, that’s all, and the man’s name is Melvin, he’s probably a huge dork.”

“I think Morse is into dorks,” Strange muttered. “He’s with you, isn’t he?”

Before George could respond to that, in walked Morse, with a tall, handsome, muscular man. That _couldn’t_ be who George suspected it was, it just couldn’t. Would the universe really be so cruel?

“George, meet Melvin Stermley,” said Morse, beaming and full of excitement, and George’s good mood started to wilt. The universe could be very cruel indeed.

“Please, just call me Vin.” The man was American, and his voice was very deep and very _masculine_ , and Morse was looking at him like he was the best person he’d ever met. Dammit, George was starting to regret this already. This guy was clearly not the dork he’d expected, and maybe he was Morse’s celebrity crush after all.

As they started brainstorming together, George was feeling more and more like the third wheel. Morse and _Vin_ were discussing theories excitedly, Vin complimenting Morse’s thoroughness with laying out the case details, and George could be wrong, but he could’ve sworn Vin was flirting a little. He even came up with anagrams for both their names on the spot, and George was annoyed with himself for disliking the man and maybe being just a little jealous (though he’d never admit it), especially when he and Morse were engaged and in love, but Vin just irritated him. A swimsuit model who just happened to make crosswords in his spare time, really? 

“I can take everyone’s coffee order,” George offered finally, not feeling like he was contributing much else to the discussion. The two of them seemed to have everything under control, having decided to make anagrams of the answers to last Saturday’s puzzle to see if that led to anything.

“I don’t drink coffee. But I’d love a kombucha,” Vin said, and George left, annoyed.

“Everything ok?” asked Jim.

“Yeah, of course.” Everything was fine. In the other room, Vin took off his jacket, and George realized he only had a tank top on underneath. George couldn’t miss the way he flexed his huge biceps a little; was the man seriously _flirting_ with his fiancé? No, no, no, George was just overreacting. Right?

“Feeling jealous?”

“No! Of course not! I’d never feel such an ugly emotion. I just… a swimsuit model? Why does he have to be a crossword-writing swimsuit model? And not just that, he’s clearly smart, and—and muscular—” 

From inside the other room, Morse and Vin were laughing. 

“—And funny,” Jim added. “And really hot…” George glanced at him. It seemed like he had a thing for Vin, and a look around the office showed that a few other people did too. George rolled his eyes.

 

***

 

When George got back with a kombucha for Vin and a latte for himself, Vin was still only wearing a tank top. He was seriously considering going to turn up the air conditioning to get the man to put on some actual clothes, but Morse was clearly more focused on the case right now. Right, they were still working, George could be professional.

“This is the note the arsonist left,” Morse was saying. “‘Your clues I discombobulate, to teach you to conjugate. The fool who fails to validate will watch as I conflagrate.’ Maybe the use of the word ‘conjugate’ means we should focus on verb answers?”

“Ok, cool, I love verbs,” Vin answered, and George felt compelled to intervene.

“Maybe we should switch gears a bit,” he suggested. “We should be looking for someone who has a motive, right?”

Morse hummed, nodding.

“Whoever’s setting these fires is clearly trying to humiliate Vin,” George continued, “so maybe we should focus more on finding people who don’t like you.”

“You’ve got a point about motive,” Morse said. “There could be another puzzler who wants to take you down, possibly. Is there anyone who’s been hostile to you, or unusually competitive?”

“No one comes to mind, but I’m hosting a crossword night at the Turnkey Bar tonight,” Vin said, and George suggested that he and Morse could go undercover and see if they could find their arsonist.

“Alright, good idea!” Morse agreed, and George felt strangely smug that he’d liked George’s plan so much.

“Ok, guess we’ll see you later Vin. Oh, here’s your coat, I bet you’re going to need that.” George draped the coat over Vin’s shoulders, pushing him towards the door a little hurriedly, “And we’ll see you tonight, mate, ok? Good!”

After Vin was gone, Morse was still gushing about him, and George felt just a little bit guilty for disliking Vin when he was such a hero of Morse’s. He _definitely wasn’t jealous_ , he’d decided, but he did wonder a little what Morse was doing with a man like _him_ when there were handsome, charming, crossword-writing swimsuit models out there who’d surely love to sweep him off his feet.

 

***

 

“Dev?” George asked, an hour later, as they were getting ready to go to the Turnkey Bar. “Is there a dress code for this place? What should I wear?”

“I don’t think there’s a dress code,” came Morse’s voice from inside the bathroom. “Wear whatever you want.” He emerged, his usual suit replaced by a cardigan and slim jeans that looked very attractive on him. 

George just pulled a sweater on over his work shirt, then pressed a kiss to Morse’s lips. “Excited for tonight?”

Grinning, Morse nodded. “I’ve been wanting to go to this place for ages! Wish we could’ve gone under better circumstances, though.”

“Yeah that’s true. I can take you again after this case is finished.”

“Oh I’d love that!” Morse beamed at him. “Still, I think this should be fun.”

It certainly ended up being an interesting evening. George and Morse waited in line for several minutes outside the Turnkey talking to the other crossword enthusiasts, all of whom seemed to like Vin quite a bit, one woman especially so.

“Melvin Stermley? You mean my future husband?” she said when George asked if she liked him.

“So you must like his puzzles, then?”

“And his face, body, and brain,” the woman said. “And body…” she added dreamily. George was getting tired of everyone being so infatuated with Melvin Stermley, it really wasn’t fair. “Vin’s gorgeous, he really puts all other men to shame, honestly.”

“Right, well thank you for that,” George said, very grateful that it was their turn to go in.

Everyone had to answer a puzzle to get in. Morse got in just fine, but George couldn’t figure his out for the life of him. Eventually he just told the man at the door he’d come back a different night, and instead sneaked in through a bathroom window. It probably wasn’t really legal, once he stopped to think about it, but if he didn’t get caught…

As luck would have it, of course, George’s foot slipped as he was climbing in onto the toilet, and his entire right pant leg was drenched in toilet water.

“This really isn’t my day is it?” he muttered to himself, peeling off the soaked pants and then pulling out his phone to call Jim.

“You just have to wait,” Jim told him when he asked for help drying them. “Twenty-eight minutes, that’s how long it takes toilet pants to dry, trust me.”

“But I can’t just wait around for half an hour while Morse is in there having the time of his life with _Vin!_ C’mon, I need help here! Can I at least tell them it started raining, and somehow my pant leg was the only thing that got wet—”

“Oh, you’re drenched in jealousy, aren’t you? Trouble in paradise?”

George sighed. “No, of course not, jealousy is an ugly emotion that I don’t feel. And Morse and I are fine. Besides, Morse liked the plan I came up with to come here. He agreed with me, because we’re in love, and we’re in sync. Why would I be jealous of Vin?”

Just then the bathroom door opened, and he heard two men come in.

“Hang on, I’ve got to go, someone’s coming,” he whispered hurriedly. “Talk later.”

The men were talking about another crossword writer named Sam who’d been replaced by Vin as the Saturday puzzle man, and this was perfect. This was exactly the kind of thing George had been looking for: a puzzle maker with a grudge against Vin. It was the perfect motive. Now, all George had to do was figure out who this Sam was, tell Morse and Vin, and arrest the man.

He decided to just ignore the soaked pant leg situation and hope no one noticed; he had more important things to worry about now, like stopping a serial arsonist. When he found Morse and Vin, they each had a drink in hand, Morse comfortable and relaxed.

“I know who the arsonist is,” George explained excitedly. “It’s this guy named Sam? Vin took his job!”

“Sam Jepson?” Vin asked, and George nodded, feeling a thrill in his chest. He had to be right. “No, he can’t be the arsonist. He’s been out of town for two weeks. Besides, he’s one of my closest friends. Let me stay on his couch after my last girlfriend broke up with me.”

George blinked. “Ok, what did you two find, then?”

They told him they thought the arsonist was spelling his name using intersections of streets that matched numbered clues in the puzzles. The two letters they already had spelled ‘MA,’ and Morse suggested building a puzzle around that and possibly catching the arsonist lighting his next fire. Morse’s eyes were bright with the thrill of the chase, and as exciting as George imagined this must be for him, it seemed a little far-fetched, and if they wanted to catch this guy it would be better to work the case like cops.

“But we have a solid lead now!” George protested, though he knew it might be hard to convince Vin of that since they were apparently such close friends. “This Sam Jepson character has an excellent motive. I think we need to do this by the book, instead of solving it like puzzlers.”

“I get that, George, I really do,” said Vin, “but people who make crosswords love hiding their names in puzzles. It’s a vanity thing I guess, it’s like a self portrait.”

George let out a slightly frustrated sigh. “You know what, Morse, you can decide how we do this, it’s your last case.”

He hoped Morse would pick his plan instead of going along with something so far-fetched, but he clearly liked Vin’s plan better, and his apologetic shrug for picking it over George’s didn’t make George feel much better. After all, Morse wasn’t sorry for choosing the strategy he thought would work best, and it hurt that it hadn’t been George’s. This really was the perfect case for him, and George was suddenly wishing he’d picked something different for their last case together.

“Alright, then…” George wasn’t jealous, he wasn’t jealous, he really wasn’t.

“Let’s go then,” Morse grinned at Vin, and they got up together and left the bar. _Oh no,_ George thought. _I think I’m getting jealous…_

 

***

 

The next day, Morse told George the next stage of the plan, and he was clearly on fire, in his element. He had a map of Oxford set up on a whiteboard, and sticky notes with the letters MAL, MAX, MAR, and MAT underneath.

“So if our arsonist is spelling his name, the most common third letters after MA are L for Malcolm, X for Max, R for Mark, and T for Matthew,” Morse explained fluidly. “Now, Vin designed today’s puzzle with only one of each of each of those letters, so we can stake out the intersections that correspond to where the L, X, R, and T are in the puzzle!”

He placed the sticky notes on the corresponding intersections on the map. “So you can take the MAR corner, I’ll take the MAT corner, and we can have some uniforms watch the MAL and MAX corners.”

“Or, we could find Sam Jepson and bring him in,” George suggested, and Morse sighed quietly.

“George, I know this isn’t exactly by the books, but… I have a good feeling about this. I really think this is the way to go on this one. I know Vin’s not a cop, but this is his area of expertise.”

George nodded. “Yeah, he’s probably right.” Because he was _Vin,_ of course he was bloody right.

“If he’s not,” said Morse, placing his hand on George’s chest and moving closer, “we can try your plan tomorrow.”

Nodding again, George leaned in to kiss him. He had a feeling that tomorrow would be too late to do his plan, though, and they had to get it right, tonight. As much as he trusted Morse’s judgement, Vin’s plan didn’t seem like the best way to do that by a long shot.

“Ok, Dev. That’s fine,” he said, and Morse blushed a little—George didn’t usually call him by that nickname at work—and George kissed his cheek.

“Right,” Morse stuttered a little, pulling back a bit and half turning away. George grinned. “I should probably get the surveillance equipment.”

“Are you really going along with Vin’s plan? I can’t believe this!” came Jim’s voice behind him, and George spun around, startled.

“Would you relax?” George snapped. “I only agreed because Morse seemed so set on it, and because you are going to stake out Sam Jepson’s flat while I watch my stupid corner.”

“Ohhh, ok,” Jim nodded.

“Then, when Sam sets a fire, Vin’s going to look dumb!” George really was getting a bit jealous, he was done denying it. His plan was going to be right, and Morse would realize Vin was no good at solving crime.

 

***

 

That evening came quickly, and George was excited to put his and Jim’s plan into action. They each got a radio, and Jim drove to Sam’s flat and George to his intersection. When George thought about it, Vin’s plan did seem very smart… Maybe he’d been right all along and George was just being childish and wouldn’t admit it? Still, nothing was happening yet. 

He picked up the radio and called Jim.

“So nothing’s happening here. Anything at Sam’s place?”

“Sorry, matey, nothing yet,” said Jim.

“Is it possible I was wrong?” George asked, a little desperate now. “Maybe Sam really is out of town. And Vin’s plan is actually kind of smart—”

“Hold that thought George, I have eyes on Sam!” Jim told him, and relief flooded through George.

“Yes! My judgment is clear, I’m a brilliant cop, thank you Jim! I’ll be there in two minutes.” George pulled out of his corner and sped in the direction of Sam’s flat. He wondered briefly if he should’ve gotten someone to watch the MAR corner while he was gone, but dismissed it just as quickly. Nothing was going to happen, because George was _right!_

But, when he got there, the only thing Sam was doing was eating soup, and then making a mundane, rather sad phone call to his mum.

“Ok, so Sam didn’t do it,” George sighed. “I should probably get back to my corner. But just because this one theory happened to be wrong, that doesn’t mean Vin was right. I’ll just have to come up with another theory before the arsonist sets the next fire.”

“Right,” Jim assured him. “We’ll still prove Vin’s wrong.”

George drove back to the MAR intersection, to find that one of the buildings had gone up in a bright, fiery blaze while he was gone. No one was around besides him, so he had no idea who the arsonist had been.

_Oh no…_

He stayed up all that night, directing the firemen and interviewing the small group of homeless people who were their only witnesses; none of them saw much, except that there was a woman loitering there all night with a large container of some liquid. No one saw her face. The next morning when Morse got to the station, he cornered George immediately and gave him the dressing-down of his life.

“I can’t believe you left your post! Why would you do that, George? Because it wasn’t your idea so it wasn’t worth pursuing? Now we have another fire we weren’t able to stop, and we’re no closer to finding our arsonist!” Morse turned away slightly, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck in irritation.

“Look, I’m sorry Morse, but my gut was telling me Sam Jepson was setting the fires,” George tried. “I wanted the case resolved quickly.”

“But we agreed to do Vin’s plan,” Morse said, eyes sharp as he watched George.

“Vin isn’t a cop! Why do you keep siding with him instead of me?” George demanded, and Morse looked surprised and a little hurt. “Let me guess, it’s because he was right, and he’s bloody perfect and gorgeous?”

“What?” Morse turned to face him fully. “Are you—George, are you jealous of Vin?”

He’d definitely let that go a bit too far. George looked down at his own ash-covered shoes, and right in front of them, Morse’s much cleaner ones.

“George?” Morse asked again, and he looked up to see Morse still watching him, eyebrows raised inquiringly.

“Alright, fine, I didn’t want to say anything because he’s your hero and it’s an ugly emotion, but yes, I am a little jealous of Vin the super smart supermodel.” Morse was frowning a little now, but George went on. “This was supposed to be our last case together, and I’m gonna miss working with you. But you and Vin have been joined at the hip since you met. Or in his case, that sexy V muscle…” George crossed his arms over his chest and met Morse’s eyes.

“I promise you have no reason to be jealous of him, love,” Morse told him. 

George sighed. He might as well tell him the whole truth. It could hurt them if he didn’t, and knowing his luck lately, that was very possible. “I just—” he sighed again. “I don’t want you to wake up one day and wish you were with someone as smart as you are,” he admitted, crossing his arms more tightly and looking over Morse’s shoulder at the whiteboard still covered with clues and information on the case.

“I am with someone as smart as I am,” Morse said quietly, his hands on George’s forearms, and George couldn’t believe how lucky he was. “You. I love your mind, and I love _you_ , that’s why I want to marry you.” Morse’s hands came up to rest on his chest, and George pulled him a little closer.

Morse really did want to marry him… 

Marry! The word triggered something in George’s mind and he hurriedly explained it to Morse.

“The arsonist was going to spell M-A-R-R-Y!” Another idea came to him. “Or…” He pointed to the word ‘conjugate’ in the letter the arsonist had sent.

“Conjugate means marry,” Morse said. “So, who wants to marry Vin?”

“That lady from the bar!” George said excitedly, grabbing Morse’s hands. “Let’s go.” He stopped by the computer on his desk to find out who the woman was and where she lived, then dragged Morse out of the station to arrest her.

The woman, Helen Gorbelson, confessed immediately, and told them she’d been planning to set many more fires throughout Oxford.

“I wanted to write, ‘Marry me or else I will kill you. Yours forever, Helen Gorbelson’,” she said, and Morse got Jim to put her in one of the cells right away.

When they told Vin not twenty minutes later, he said, “Well, thank you for catching her. With a brilliant puzzling mind like yours on the case, I knew it was only a matter of time.” The last to Morse, with a smirk, and George barely managed not to roll his eyes.

“Actually, it was George who solved it,” Morse said, pride clear in his voice and face. “I think he’s actually a genius with this stuff.”

“Oh. Thank you, then,” Vin said to George, and his obvious surprise was worth everything.

“Couldn’t have done it without your help,” George conceded.

“Thanks, man. Just glad I could help. You know, you should join me for a puzzle night sometime,” Vin offered, but before either of them could say anything else, Jim took Vin’s arm and escorted him out the door, practically pushing him out of the building, George and Morse watching in amused surprise.

“So,” George turned to Morse, “was your last case as a detective constable everything you hoped it would be?”

“I quite liked it actually,” Morse grinned at him, then kissed his cheek. “Thank you, love. It was the perfect case.”

**Author's Note:**

> Jake calls Amy "Ames" so I had to have George call Morse something cute... XD


End file.
